The Disappearance of Heather Elvis

By Amanda Storm

Heather Elvis was a native of Horry County and she was a graduate of St. James High School in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. After her graduation in the year 2011, Heather moved into an apartment in Carolina Forest. She shared this apartment with her best friend and coworker, Brianna Warrelmann. Heather was making a living by waitressing at the Tilter Kilt in Myrtle Beach and The House of Blue's in North Myrtle Beach. During her time as a waitress, she was pursuing her studies in cosmetology. According to Heather's father, her cosmetology license "was her way of giving back, and making others feel good about themselves". Heather was leading a seemingly ordinary life up until the night of her disappearance on December 17, 2013.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201262969

Book preview

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF HEATHER ELVIS

AMANDA STORM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HEATHER ELVIS

TEEN GIRL KILLER

DEFRANCISCO SISTERS

MARLENE OLIVE

ALYSSA BUSTAMANTE

TYLAR WITT

MELINDA LOVELESS

CINDY COLLIER & SHIRLEY WOLF

KRISTINA FETTERS

BRITTANY HOLBERG

NIKKI REYNOLDS

The Disappearance of Heather Elvis

Heather Elvis was a native of Horry County and she was a graduate of St. James High School in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. After her graduation in the year 2011, Heather moved into an apartment in Carolina Forest. She shared this apartment with her best friend and coworker, Brianna Warrelmann. Heather was making a living by waitressing at the Tilter Kilt in Myrtle Beach and The House of Blue's in North Myrtle Beach. During her time as a waitress, she was pursuing her studies in cosmetology. According to Heather's father, her cosmetology license was her way of giving back, and making others feel good about themselves.  Heather was leading a seemingly ordinary life up until the night of her disappearance on December 17, 2013. 

According to Heather's sister, Heather was a brave woman who did not fear change. Before Heather's disappearance, she told her sister I will be famous in ten years, just wait. Heather was bold, confident and honest about her feelings. Brianna Warrelmann described Heather as straight forward or rash. She was described as having an affinity for music and good movies. Before Heather disappeared, she documented her life on social media. Her Twitter page was an honest documentation of her daily musings and lifestyle choices. On Twitter, she described herself as all scarlet begonia's and a touch of the blues. This is where she expressed her true feelings about the world.

Although Heather was young she was having an affair with a much older male at the time of her disappearance. Heather met a man named Sidney Moorer through her waitressing job at the Tilted Kilt. Sidney was a local repairman that was hired at local restaurants to repair industrial equipment. He was a married 38-year-old when the affair between himself and 20-year-old Heather Elvis started. Friends of Heather’s estimate their relationship beginning in June of 2013. The same month she tweeted I have a taste for men who are older.  Heather pointed Sidney out to her co-worker and friend Brianna. She told her friend that she felt like forcing herself on Sidney, she was sexually attracted to him. On Twitter, Heather expressed interest in the guy who repairs things at work.  It was not long after this tweet that Sidney began to spend time with Heather. She used Twitter as a platform to describe the trials and tribulations having to do with the affair.

Heather and Sidney’s affair lasted approximately six weeks. It came to an abrupt end when Sidney’s wife, Tammy Moorer, became aware of their relationship. During this time Sidney was living with Tammy and their three children while visiting Heather on the side. Coworkers of Heather’s reported seeing Sidney on his days off, he would visit Heather at work and drop off coffee and Bagels. During the initial six weeks of their relationship, both Heather and Sidney had no problem showing public affection to one another. Heather responded to a friend's tweet saying he was the man she would go out of her way to see. On July 12, 2013, Heather Tweeted: Baby did a bad thing and I'm in too deep. But watch me get in deeper. This was in reference to her relationship with Sidney. It was in July that Heather mentioned that Sidney had brought up the idea of letting Heather nanny his children. Sidney and his wife Tammy were thinking about moving from their home state of South Carolina to Florida, but he did not want to leave Heather.

Heather and Sidney’s relationship ended in September of 2013 when Tammy Moorer found out about their affair. According to Sidney Moorer, Tammy listened as she forced him to call Heather and end the relationship. Heather once again took to Twitter saying Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well. It was not long after this when Heather began to receive threatening text messages from Tammy Moorer. On November 1, 2013, Tammy texted Heather Someone's about to get their a- beat down your b- is about to take his last breath. You tell me where you are now, or I will find out another way...that way will not have a great turn out for you...I am giving you one last chance to answer before we meet in person... only one. When Tammy did not receive a reaction from Heather, she sent her another text that read; I have been having Sidney followed since January 2012... it's best you call back and speak to me, save yourself. Hey... you ready to meet the MRS? Heather responded back with I think you are a little obsessed with me. I'm nobody to worry about anymore. Heather was not looking to give Tammy any satisfaction from the conversation and was not going to be baited into an argument. Tammy replied again, By the way, Daddy no longer owns a phone. Heather ended the conversation with a period and did not make any attempt to speak with Tammy any further. Tammy was also accused of calling the manager of the Tilted Kilt, asking to have Heather fired.

After texting with Tammy Heather moved to Twitter where she retweeted a tweet from Daniel Tosh. The tweet acknowledged the situation between Heather, Tammy, and Sidney without directly naming anyone. It read Hey married fella’s you can either cheat on your wife OR murder her. Never both. That’s when you get caught. New #Tosh in 30!. It was at this point that Heather’s roommate Brianna remembers Heather continuing to try and contact Sidney. Over the next week, Tammy continued to harass Heather. Sidney admits to calling Heather and telling her she was nothing to him and she was only good for spreading her legs. These were words that Tammy made Sidney say during one of his last phone calls to Heather. Tammy texted pictures of her and Sidney having penetrative sex to heather. Heather’s best friend confirms that Tammy had made Heather feel like a worthless human being.

Tammy was very possessive over Sidney and punished him for having an affair. Sidney claimed that in order to make sure he remained faithful to Tammy, she handcuffed him to the bed nightly. He claims that Tammy changed his phone password to a password only she knew. In order to save his marriage, Sidney remained compliant to Tammy and the harassment. He let Tammy accompany him anytime he left the house to prove his fidelity. According to a friend of the Moorer family, Tammy forced Sidney to have the word Tammy tattooed above his crotch. Tammy was quoted saying If he didn't have anything to do with that girl, this wouldn't be happening. Tammy made herself clear when she said she would make Heather's life terrible.

The threating messages appeared to come to an end on November 19, 2013. This was also the day that the Moorer family took a vacation to Disneyland. The Moorer's did not have contact with Heather until their return to South Carolina on December 11, 2013. During this vacation, Heather attempted to move on from the relationship. She applied for a job at a salon and was scheduled to begin right before Christmas. She also began to attend church on a weekly basis. It was during this time period where Heather confided in one of her coworkers. Heather feared that she was pregnant with Sidney's child, and had taken a test that read error. She was gaining a considerable amount of weight and had to change her uniform to accommodate this gain. It became evident that Sidney was not completely out of Heather’s life.

The last person to see Heather Elvis alive was Steven Schiraldi, her date on the night of December 17, 2013. During their date, Steven taught Heather to drive a stick shift in a local mall parking lot. He took a picture of Heather driving his car and sent it to both her father and roommate, Brianna. According to Brianna, this date was significant to Heather because it was her attempt at moving on from Sidney Moorer. Steven dropped Heather off at her apartment at 1:15 a.m. Within twenty minutes of being home, she received a call from a payphone. This call lasted for a little over five minutes before she hung up. After the call, she called her roommate who was visiting her family for the holidays. She told her roommate Brianna that Sidney called to tell her he was planning to leave Tammy, and he wanted to meet with Heather to discuss their relationship. Brianna describes Heather as being frantic on the phone, she advised her friend not to meet with Sidney that night. The phone call between Heather and Brianna lasted approximately two minutes until Heather hung up on Brianna. There were no conclusive sightings of Heather after 1:45 a.m. on December 18, 2013.

The police began to investigate Heather as a missing person when her car was found at a boat dock. Investigators created a timeline of the actions of both Heather and Sidney based on their phone records and local surveillance cameras. At 1:12 am on December 18, Sidney was captured on a local Walmart security camera purchasing a pregnancy test. Soon after making the purchase he used a payphone to call Heather at 1:35 am. He claims this phone call was to tell Heather to leave him and his family alone. This statement did not match Brianna's statement, the person whom Heather called after talking to Sidney. Brianna was confident that Heather told her Sidney was leaving his wife, Tammy. After Heather got off the phone with Brianna, she made an attempt to call the payphone back. This call continued to ring until Heather hung up the phone with no answer.

Police used cell phone towers to trace Heather's data usage on her phone. Records show Heather leaving her apartment and arriving at Longbeard's Bar and Restaurant between 2:42 and 2:56 am. She stayed at the restaurant for 13 minutes when she left and headed towards Augusta Plantation Drive. Her phone was pinged at that location at approximately 2:57 am and towers tracked her as she returned to Longbeard's restaurant. Heather arrived back at the restaurant at 3:01 am. During her time at the restaurant, Heather made multiple calls to Sidney's cell phone. She eventually returned to her apartment at approximately 3:16 am, where she tried to call Sidney again. During this call, someone answered Sidney's phone and the conversation lasted for 4 minutes 15 seconds. What was said during this phone call is unknown, but prosecutors believe Heather was speaking to Tammy Moorer during this call. Heather's phone continued to show movement between 3:25 am and 3:37 am. The phone moved from Heather's apartment to the Peachtree Boat Landing. While sitting on the boat landing Heather once again called Sidney, with no answer. It was at exactly 3:42 am that Heather's phone shut off and all data stopped.

At 3:36 am a private surveillance camera caught a dark Ford F-150 heading towards the boat landing. The truck seemed to be coming from the direction of the Moorer residence. At 3:45 am the same surveillance camera picked up the same F-150 heading towards the Moorer residence, from the boat dock. On the morning of December 19, authorities found Heather's car abandoned on the boat Landing. The car was locked, and Heather's belongings were missing from the car. After discovering the car, authorities called Heather's father (the registered owner of the car) to ask why it was left there.

On December 20, 2013 police officers began to investigate Heather's disappearance as a missing persons case. They began their search in Heather's car, looking for any sign of where she might have gone. They did a full search of the perimeter including the boathouse and the water. It was not long until Heather's disappearance started attracting media coverage. On December 21, 2013, the Center for Missing Persons began to aid the police in their search for Heather. Heather's family created a Facebook page dedicated to finding Heather, this page acquired over 47,000 likes and Heather's story was being told around the nation. The family offered a cash reward of 1,000$ for anyone with information leading to Heather or the nature of her disappearance. This reward increased to 10,000$ two days later as more supporters grew increasingly worried about Heather's well-being.

On December 29, 2013, a search party was organized, and Police found human remains near Tidewater Road. Investigators rushed to identify the remains in hopes that they were in connection to the missing persons case. It was determined that the skeletal remains belonged to a 20-year old male. The remains were then sent to a lab in Texas, for further DNA testing. As the search party continued, more bones were unearthed. The bones were only a short distance from the remains found that weekend. A preliminary report showed that the bones most likely belonged to the same person, as they were scattered over a 100-yard distance. Police were left with no leads in regard to Heather’s case. There was no physical evidence pointing to Heather’s whereabouts or body.

Heather's family grew more and more concerned as time continued with